He Promised
by Teh Pocky Ninja
Summary: He promised he would love her forever. And he did. He promised never to leave her. He never did. He promised to always protect her...his promise was not only broken, but shattered. AU, SasxSak, T for blood, death, and scary images. Really depressing.


**He Promised**

* * *

Some would say she was popular. She didn't believe it was so.

Having most of the boys in her school chasing after her didn't make her popular. They just had attraction crushes. They didn't care for the person on the inside.

But _he_ did. He had loved her back when they had just begun the transformation from child to adult. Back when these not-quite-children discovered maybe the opposite gender wasn't so icky after all.

She had been the lowest of the low back then. The smallest, shortest, skinniest of them all. Other, prettier girls would laugh, taunting her eyes into spilling tears meant for nobody to see.

He was her polar opposite. The most "popular" of the boys, the most sought-after by girls. And yet, he used to stride right by those girls in their too-short-too-tight clothes to comfort her when she cried. It made her peers detest her even more, but she was happy with him around.

Some people said it was his love for her that helped her blossom. Like sunlight and water to a dying flower, the Ugly Duckling finally became a swan. Even as more boys began to notice her as her beauty surfaced, she only had eyes for him. Soon, she was the highest of them all. Shiniest hair, longest legs, transfixing curves. But, she knew, he would love her even if she were still the skinny, unconfident little waif she once was.

For some others, their infatuation turned to jealousy. Attempts to break up this match made in heaven were planned, some coming dangerously close to succeeding. But they always seemed to win in the end, coming out even stronger from being pulled so perilously far apart. Nothing could break them. Nothing.

* * *

_"Hey? Hey girl, what's wrong?"_

_Her head jerked up when that voice reached her ears, her emerald eyes widening to see a boy her own age crouching next to her on the shady park grass._

_"Why are you crying?" he asked, surprised when she turned away._

_"They…they were being mean to me…" she murmured, "making fun of me…"_

_"Why would they do that?" he asked innocently._

_"They…they said I'm ugly," she whimpered, "That nobody will ever love me…"_

_She blinked in surprise when he held his arms out to her. Everyone knew the unwritten preschool rules: if a girl hugged a boy it meant she liked him. But the way he smiled at her made that feeling go away._

_"They're wrong," he said as she hugged him back, drying her eyes on his dark shirt._

_"Huh?"_

_"They're wrong," he repeated, closing his sooty eyes. "You're not ugly."_

_"I'm…not?"_

_"Nope," he said, smiling for her again as he let go of her. "I don't think so. I think you're pretty."_

_Her tears seemed to evaporate as she beamed at him. "R-really?"_

_"Uh-huh. Like a princess."_

_She giggled, her baby-fat cheeks rosy once again. "Thanks. You're nice. What's your name?"_

_"Sasuke," he said with pride. "What's yours?"_

_"Saku-rah."_

_"Like the flower?"_

_"Yup."_

_"It works."_

_She giggled again, "You're weird."_

_This caught him off-guard. "Huh…?!"_

_"Well," she explained, "Boys are loud and mean and throw dirt. But you're nice and I like you, so you can't be a boy. But you're not a girl either. So what are you?"_

_His blank expression made her start giggling again, and pretty soon he found himself laughing along with her. At what neither of them knew, but it made all those bad feelings vanish._

_"I'm a boy, stupid," he managed to choke out._

_"I know, dum-dum head," she laughed back._

_The sound of the bell signaling the end of recess snapped their attention back to the real world._

_"Come on," he said, extending a hand to help her up. "Teacher's gonna get mad if we're out here."_

_"Ok," she said, smiling as she grasped his fingers._

_

* * *

_They were sixteen when she showed up. The new student at their tiny, public school, a new face desperately searching for a little kindness or friendship. Or so they thought.

She thought nothing of it when he was assigned to show her around the school. She only smiled when _she_ clung to his arm, asking innocently to help her find her locker again and again. She knew it was just an infatuation, it might not pass, but that's all it was.

He had trouble finding words when she asked about his charge after school. At first he described her as the typical new student, scared, emotional, and clingy. But as he went on, she began to piece together something else. He said sometimes she would steal his books, not giving them back unless specifically asked to. She had snuck into the boys' locker room twice just to cut his lock and stand there, sniffing his gym clothes. She frowned as he shuddered, admitting she completely creeped him out, in a stalker-ish kind of way.

The next day, she stood with him at his locker, holding his books as he searched for the next class's homework, smiling brightly and laughing together. The ones around them were used to this; theirs was a relationship of friendly fun as well as love. But _she_ wasn't used to it at all.

They both sensed her blood-red eyes boring into his back as he closed his locker, smiling at a joke she had made while leaning down and kissing her cheek before disappearing into the crowd of students on their way to their next class. She stood there for a moment, tracing the spot on her cheeks where his lips had been, before turning in the opposite direction.

Nothing prepared her for the way that new girl looked at her as she walked past her. Nothing she had ever seen before even compared to the look of absolute fury shot in her direction, laced with enough ice and venom to stop a rampaging woolly mammoth in its tracks. She blinked twice and shivered before continuing on, though that wrathful glare kept reappearing in her mind.

* * *

_"S-Sasuke…wh…"_

_If his arms hadn't been holding her firmly in place, she knew her shaking knees would've given way a long time ago. The flashing lights all around them seemed to dull as the blaring music softened, the last slow-dance notes of their eight-grade graduation waltz fading slowly away._

_"I…"_

_Something wavered in that voice, and she saw the cracks in her previously-flawless image of him. Her knightly protector was faltering._

_"I…Sakura…"_

_She didn't know why the tears came, blurring his reddened face from her vision._

_"I mean it."_

_He had always thought her mossy eyes sparkled like no-one else's could. But now…they shimmered, almost glazed over, with the light of a million stars._

_"Sasuke!"_

_She said his name just once, burying her face against his neck as she sniffled, but not in sadness. He smiled as well, exhaling the previous moment's tension like a river breaking free of its restraints._

_Sakura's fingers gently pulled down to hers the face of the one who had just taken her first kiss._

_He might as well have her second._

_

* * *

_"Sasuke, she's…she's looking at us again."

"I know…"

Unnerved, she scooted closer against him on the lunch table bench without glancing behind her a second time.

"Sasuke, she's scaring me."

He stopped crunching a bag of chips long enough to put an arm around her. She wasn't one to admit her fears this readily. She was just as creeped-out as him.

"'S'okay," he murmured into her ear, careful of the numerous studs trailing down to the lobes. "Just don't look at her."

She nodded, pretending to concentrate on the half-eaten pizza in front of her. Nobody had ever made her feel this uneasy before. Even with Sasuke's protecting arms around her, that weird girl somehow penetrated his loving shield.

She shivered, but not from cold.

* * *

_"Sakura…" he breathed, "You…you look amazing…"_

_She only beamed at him as he held her hand and led her down her front steps. She knew her parents were scrutinizing their every move from a nearby window, but they knew him. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her._

_He couldn't help staring at her as her hand squeezed his. Her shapely body, clad in a form-fitting, strapless black evening gown, was already sending his teenage mind reeling. The high slits up the side of the dress showed peeks of a red underskirt whenever she moved, as the tendrils of pink left free from her curled, bundled-up hair swayed in the warm night's breeze._

_She smiled to herself as he led her towards the shiny black car waiting for them, thinking of how he never was one to get dressed up for anything. The only difference now from his normal attire was a white tie hanging from his neck on an elastic cord, otherwise that baggy black and dark blue was the same as always. _

_He exchanged a few insults with his older brother in the driver's seat, their chauffeur for the evening. She even blushed when the college student winked at her before Sasuke aimed a knuckle-punch at his cheek. One foot on the gas pedal later, and they were off, well over the speed limit, to their high school's freshman prom._

_

* * *

_He sighed, hearing the last bell of the day sound out as the hallway began to fill with students eager to escape the parking lot before the afternoon rush hit the road. As he spun the combination on his locker, his mind listed off the schedule for the next few hours.

_Basketball practice,_ he thought, grabbing a few study guides and cramming them into an overstuffed Stormtrooper backpack. _Hang out with Sakura. Dinner. Exam review. Super Smash marathon at Kiba's. Sleep…_

"Hi-i-i, Sasuke…"

He sighed again, knowing that sickly-sweet tone. Another fangirl, probably wanting to ask him out on a date.

"I'm sorry, b-" he began, swinging his locker door closed to glare at whoever was behind it.

He flinched to see _her_ standing there, an evil grin splashed across her face.

"Oh," he managed to blurt out, "It's you."

"That's right," she said, all without halting that grin once. "It's me. Karin. Remember?"

"Um…can I help you?" he asked uneasily, swinging his backpack up onto his shoulders and grabbing an extra pair of sneakers before slamming the locker shut, a bit louder than intended.

"Oh Sasuke," she sighed, as if daydreaming. "Don't you know what it's like to be in _love_?"

He flinched, looking away.

"You _would_ know, wouldn't you?" she continued. "After all, you know how wonderful it is to have someone who _cares_ for you?"

"Yeah. Whatever."

"But _Sasuke_," she said, grabbing his arm as he turned to leave. "What if the person you _love_ doesn't know or return your _feelings_?"

"Um…" He thought quickly, wanting to get to practice and away from _her_ as soon as possible. "I guess you…could try asking them."

"But _Sasuke_ dear, that's where I need _your_ help."

"With…what? And could you let go of me?"

Ignoring his question, she yanked on his arm, bringing his face only inches from hers.

"Sasuke dear, I'm not one to ask favors…but I'll make an exception."

"Could you let go of me?"

"All I ask is for _one_ teensy-weensy little thing…will you help?"

"Um. Yeah. Sure. Now can you let go?"

"Good," she smirked, releasing him.

Glancing at the hallway clock, he turned back to her for a second. "What is it?"

She grinned wider than ever, revealing a mesh of train-tracks braces over slightly yellowing teeth.

"Tell your brother I like him."

* * *

_He was thirteen, he hadn't known any better._

_Everyone knows what thirteen-year-old boys are like. The stereotype was bawdy, rambunctious, and one can't forget their "subtlety" when discussing the matter of girls._

_But he had distinguished himself from them. He wasn't like them at all, he had thought. Where they were coarse and vulgar, he kept his dignity intact. Especially around girls. Or maybe that was just his mother's constant prodding to treat women of all ages with proper courtesy. He hadn't known it would make him an instant target for them._

_And here he was. Thirteen. Finally a big, bad teenager with big, bad teenage feelings. Girls? Pshaw, he could handle girls. As long as he was polite to them, they generally agreed to leave him alone when he wanted it. This school trip would be no different, he had thought. A simple bus ride to the town's only water park. A day of fun, splashing, cannonballs, and Coca-Cola. _

_And what he hadn't counted on at all were his hormones only staying under control when those very girls had all their clothes on. In those swimsuits, however, it was a completely different story._

_He had been one of the crowd then. Standing with the other boys, staring as one by one, each girl in their class exited the changing rooms, showing off colorful bathing suits that practically drove their male classmates wild._

_And while the rest of them went off to line up for the rides, he had stayed, shaking his head and wondering what in the name of all that is good in this world had just happened._

_And then SHE had exited the changing rooms._

_Sakura Haruno, his best buddy besides Naruto since kindergarten, was a girl. He knew that, of course. He knew to as well as he knew he himself was a boy. But…he'd never thought of her as a WOMAN before._

_And all he could do was stand and stare, his mouth hanging open like a fish's._

_Staring without shame at those long, pale, slender legs, splattered with white sunblock around the knees. Up to her rear end which, he would never admit, sometimes he had stared at before but never like this. Never when her cute little backside was covered only by a rainbow-colored piece of synthetic cloth that kept what little decency she had left intact._

_He couldn't help but continue to stare blatantly, his gaze traveling slowly up like in those cheesy romantic films. Up, over her pleasantly curving hips, her tiny waist, and across the shimmering pink locks swaying in the wind as she stood facing away from him, the knotted string of her top visible in the middle of her back._

_And then she turned around._

_"Come on, Sasuke! Let's get in line for the wave pool!"_

_And he, being the stupid, boorish, uncivilized thirteen-year-old he was, kept on staring._

_His vision lingered for a second on her face, that rosy baby-fat gone now, replaced with high cheekbones and fluttering pink bangs framing an angelic visage that happened to be flashing her pearly-whites at him._

_That childish smile slowly faded as she realized his gaze had already gone elsewhere. Now, she wasn't one to wear skimpy clothes. Even the two-piece she had one covered up a lot more than some other girls in her class. And yet here was her best friend, staring at her like she was the most captivating thing in the world, and- was that DROOL coming from his mouth?!_

_"Um…Sasuke…?" she squeaked uneasily, her hands crossing over her chest to unconsciously cover herself. "Are you ok?"_

_In that split second, he seemed to snap back to his old self._

_"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he murmured, shaking his head. "Sorry. I was just li-liking, er, admiring your…suit. On you, I mean. Admiring it on you. Yeah."_

_"Um…ok, thanks. So…wave pool?"_

_"All right."_

_As they walked off together after their class, she was only grateful he hadn't noticed her ogling his trunks-covered bottom from the window of the women's changing rooms. Or his abs, or his biceps, or his-_

_She mentally slapped herself. He did the same._

_

* * *

_"So…you finally got rid of her?"

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing…I thought it was me she was after, but…she likes my brother."

"Well, that's going to be a bit of a problem," she mumbled, her head resting against his shoulder as they sat together on his living room couch. "He's got like what, five girlfriends already?"

"Seven," he corrected, grabbing another Twinkie from the plate perched on top of a beat-up chemistry textbook. "One from last month at a camping trip, and one on his lacrosse team asked him out."

"Playboy," she murmured, noticing his smirk as her purple-varnished nails tapped away on a calculator. "Ugh, I hate math."

"How can you hate it? You're pulling a ninety-nine in your class."

"Just 'cause I'm good at it doesn't mean I have to like it," she retorted. "You're good at attracting any human with male-oriented preferences within five miles, but you certainly don't seem to enjoy it."

She giggled at his snort, dropping her pencil on a half-finished sheet of equations to wrap her arms around him and close her eyes, inhaling the familiar scent of that cologne she gave him for his last birthday.

Neither broke the peaceful silence, simply being with each other said more than any words could. She would exhale as his hands twirled rosy locks of hair around his fingers, sometimes pausing to run gently across her back as his chin rested on top of her head. She squirmed in his lap when he did so, making cute squeaking noises and pouting at him.

Just like in those romantic comedy chick flicks she watched back in middle school, they gazed at each other for a few seconds, admiring each other's blushes. Slowly, his coal-colored eyes began to close as he leaned towards her. She couldn't help but smile, and stretch her neck forward with parted lips to-

_SLAM_.

The sound of the front door crashing shut caused two pairs of eyes to snap open as two foreheads collided painfully from having jerked in shock at the same moment.

Rubbing her sore forehead, she watched him curse under his breath before scrambling up into a kneeling position on the couch, nearly tearing apart the old leather.

"ITACHI!" he shouted at the half-open door. "What do you think you're-?! Oh, god no… Don't tell me he got himself tanked again."

"Mommy?" said a high, whiny voice from the hallway outside the room. "Is that you, Mommy?"

"Sorry," he whispered to Sakura before climbing over the couch and closing the door behind him. Even so, she could still hear what was going on.

"Come on, retard. Up we go."

"Hi, Gandalf! Can I have a ride on your pretty hippo?"

She couldn't stifle her giggle, Sasuke's brother said _the_ stupidest things when he got drunk. Which wasn't that often, so the times he did were quite an event.

"Which one was it this time?" she heard Sasuke's voice ask sarcastically. "The cheerleader? The Homecoming Queen? The captain of the softball team? The swimsuit lady in the car wax ads?"

"The perdy one…" said the older Uchiha in a singsong voice. "The perdy li'l girlie…her daddy's a king, you know…chick's rich enough for a bucket o' the best vodka you'll ever…"

The voice trailed off just before another door slamming cut off any further noises. Sakura knew from experience Sasuke's brother would be a bit more than angry to wake up the next morning and find himself locked in the bathroom.

"Your parents are going to kill him," she commented as he reappeared, closing the door behind him. "D'you think someone might call the police one of these days?"

"They might," he thought out loud, resuming his place on the couch. "But the worst they'll do is slap us with a ticket when they find us minors didn't have any."

"Hmm…yeah," she agreed. "So…we just leave him in there?"

"Better than being left in the street and hit by a car."

"Yeah…"

* * *

_"Hey, stupid!" shouted a grinning Naruto, elbowing him in the back of the head. "You missed that three-pointer. You think we're winning the regionals this year if you keep that up?"_

_"Hmph," he muttered, wiping at the sweat dripping from his forehead with one of the school's standard, ragged old towels. Cooling off after practice meant verbally as well as physically in most cases._

_"He made up for it, though," interjected Lee. "That reverse layup afterwards was the epitome of youthfulness!"_

_"Dude, quit obsessing like that or people'll think you're in love with him," joked Kiba, flicking an unsuspecting Naruto in the head with a rat-tailed towel. _

_"Gotta go," Sasuke muttered quickly, spying his family's shiny black car pull up in the school parking lot. "See ya."_

_"Say hi to Sakura for me!" shouted Naruto as his best friend trotted off, leaving his towel in a heap next to brightly-colored coolers of Gatorade and ice packs._

_"Hey sweetie," his mother said cheerily as he collapsed into the back seat. "How was practice?"_

_"Fine," he replied briefly, watching the many colors of the other cars zoom by, the parking lot soon replaced with highway and bikers._

_Knowing better than to try and get him to talk, the atmosphere of the car remained silent as the scenery outside flashed past the tinted window. Soon, he felt the rumbling of gravel under tires give way to a smooth coast as they pulled into the town's hospital parking lot._

_"Pick you up at five!" she shouted before backing out again and driving away. Ignoring the scowling leers from people in the lobby at this sweaty, dirty teenager appearing out of nowhere, he signed a few papers and before long was standing in front of the doors in the recovery wing._

_"She's been waiting for you," said the smiling nurse, allowing him to enter._

_Her pink head jerked up at the sound of the door opening, as her face broke into a wide smile as she recognized that stormy attitude._

_"Hey," she said as he pulled a chair up to her bedside, his eyes flickering for a moment across the thick plaster wrapped around her right calf, elevated by a sling dangling from a metal stand._

_"Hey yourself," he answered, sliding his hand over hers as she sat up in the hospital cot. "Everyone misses you."_

_She laughed, shaking her braided hair. "Tell them it's the weekend, and then I'm outta here. Though, I won't be playing volleyball in gym for a while."_

_"You don't have to. We're doing archery now."_

_Her ivy-colored eyes widened in envy. "No fair!"_

_"You've still got two arms," he answered her whine. "You can shoot."_

_"Hee-hee…better hide that skateboard or I might break the other one," she nodded to her good leg._

_"Can't. You smashed it."_

_"Really? Cool!"_

_And he wondered why he used to debate whether he loved her or not._

_

* * *

_"Good _morning_, Sasuke."

He flinched. It was _her_ again, right behind him.

He turned around slowly, murmuring a quick, "Hi."

"Could you tell your sweet ol' brother something for me?" she asked in that sugary, innocent tone, blinking her weirdly red eyes.

"Um, sure."

"Just tell him what a wonderful evening I had with him, and how much I look forward to seeing him again," she said promptly, as if the words had been practiced. "That's all."

"Ok. I'll tell him," he mumbled in reply, though completely shocked on the inside that his brother would agree to a date with her, only a sophomore!

"Thank you, Sasuke. You're such a gentleman."

He blinked, and she was gone. He shuddered for a moment, before continuing on to his next class.

* * *

_"Ita-chee?"_

_He lowered the top of his motorcycle magazine just enough to see his nine-year-old brother's face gazing expectantly up at him._

_"What?" he said with a bored tone._

_"Can I ask a question?"_

_"Not giving me much leeway are you, there?"_

_Being six years younger, Sasuke only frowned before repeating himself._

_"Can I ask a question?"_

_"Sure, fine," Itachi mumbled, waving his hand. "Whatever you want. Ask away."_

_"How do you tell you like somebody?"_

_The question amazed him, the all-knowing, all-powerful older sibling. Just one glance into those young, hopeful eyes told him the boy was dead serious._

_"Well," he said, dropping the magazine on a pile of previous issues. "Usually you have to know them first. You know…I'm assuming it's a her?"_

_The third-grader nodded, his pale face turning a light shade of pink._

_"How does she make you feel when you're around her?"_

_"Well…" Little Sasuke blushed again. "Happy, I guess. 'Cuz she's always smiling. She's really pretty when she smiles. But sometimes she cries."_

_"How do you feel when she cries?"_

_The boy thought for a moment._

_"Angry," he said._

_"Why angry?"_

_"'Cuz…'cuz people make her cry."_

_"And what does that make you want to do?"_

_Itachi smirked, taking a genuine interest in the subject when Sasuke frowned again._

_"Punch them in the face," he said finally._

_He chose to ignore his older brother's snort._

_"And how does it feel when she's not crying anymore?"_

_This answer took the longest time to surface._

_"Tired."_

_"Tired?"_

_"My heart gets tired."_

_"Why does it get tired?"_

_"'Cuz it goes so fast…so fast it hurts. Tired."_

_"I see…"_

_"Hey!" protested the nine-year-old when his brother returned to his magazine. "Hey, you said you'd tell me! Ita-chee!"_

_He glared as threateningly as his small stature would allow when his sibling's hand ruffled his midnight-black hair._

_"I'd say you can tell for yourself, dummy."_

* * *

"Feeling better, brother dear?"

"Shut up."

He only smirked as his older sibling's face went green again, followed shortly by another loud emptying of his stomach into the porcelain throne.

"Geez," scoffed Sasuke, wrinkling his nose. "If you know this happens later, why get smashed in the first place?"

Several more retches, and he got a coherent answer.

"When…you're my age…you'll underst-"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as the vomiting continued. "Yeah. Just like you said when I was old enough to drive, I'd have learned to play piano. I'm getting my permit next week."

He only shook his head at the nonstop hurling, promising himself he'd never allow anybody he dated to buy him enough drinks for his very first hangover.

_Well…my only date in the world would be Sakura, who's the most sober girl in the school at any given time…so I'm safe. Sucks for you, Itachi."_

"Come back out when you're done," he said, taking a step back as the stench from the toilet bowl began to spread. "Mom say there's a message for you from some girl. You'd better call her back, she wants to hook up with you at the movies tonight."

He took the coughing fit as an answer.

* * *

_She didn't know how much of an effect she had on him when he was asleep. He would dream of her, of holding and kissing her, flying through the sky and whirling through the deepest oceans with her. Sometimes they would be five, sometimes ten, sometimes sixteen. But she would always be his beautiful princess, angel, or fairy._

_In his sixteen-dreams, she would sit in his lap as she always did, her arms clasped around his neck as he held her, one arm around her waist and the other stroking her rosy hair. They would kiss, as lovingly as always, before drawing back to playfully nuzzle each other's necks._

_Every time he was with her, she would smell different. Sometimes like a flower, sometimes like sugary candy. Sometimes like nothing at all, only giving off warmth as blurry snowflakes would cascade around them._

_He would wake, forgetting for a moment about the real world and wondering where his goddess had gone. During the day, he would hear that melodious voice call out his name, causing him to turn towards its source._

_Her eyes would meet his, and he would be dreaming again._

* * *

The tiny cell phone he had been holding fell from his weakened grip, a moment later the muffled sound of it clattering to the floor reached deaf ears. The familiar scene of his living room seemed to swim before his eyes, until he collapsed facedown onto the worn-leather couch.

That was where he had been sitting only a night and a half ago, when he had come home the first time, stumbling through the doorway…

_"Mr. Sasuke Uchiha, this is Shizune at Konoha Hospital medical facilities. Itachi Uchiha arrived here twenty-one minutes ago. Your brother has been in an accident, and is in the intensive care unit. Could you please give me your parents' contact information?"_

_

* * *

__"Pthbthpth," she blew a wet raspberry, toppling a carefully stacked tower of Pokemon cards on the desk in front of her. "I'm soooooooo bored."_

_"Shhh," he hissed, fidgeting uncomfortably in his hard-plastic chair. "Be quiet."_

_"Can't we just get this over with?" she whined, poking the scattered cards with the bitten-off end of a straw. "I'm so booooored."_

_He glanced again at the plaque hanging from the varnished-wood door in front of him. "Kakashi Hatake, Konoha Elementary school principal"_

_What would his parents say? he thought. What would his father say about his son, his good little Sasuke getting sent to the principal's office? He would emotionally demolish the poor first-grader, he thought with a gulp. Glare and say You Have Disappointed Me Sasuke What Am I Going To Do With You until he was adequately sorry. Then he would get even angrier when he found out it was because he had been fighting with a girl in his class._

_He snuck a glance at her again, blaming her for getting him sent here. All he had done was tell her there was no way he would trade his shiny-foil Charizard for a Tyranitar and a Beedrill. It had escalated from there until the teacher pointed to the hallway and said "March, you two."_

_What would his brother say? He would probably be laughing, teasing him for losing to a girl in a fight. Then he would trip him, and then they would fight, getting them sent to their rooms. _

_Sigh. This was going to be a long day._

* * *

"Yes, right this way. I'm glad you all could make it."

For once, letting his frosty teenage parents-aren't-cool pretense drop, he held his mother's hand, squeezing it like a little kid having a horrific nightmare. Oh, how he wished it was just a nightmare now.

Itachi was in pretty bad shape as they walked into the starched-white hospital room. For a moment, his mind flashed back to seeing his beloved with her broken leg in a sling, flashing that radiant smile at him. If only it had been just another broken limb, and not a stained-red mess of white gauze now.

What they could see of his face was half-covered by bandages all over the left side. When his right eye opened, the diagonal birthmark-line on his cheek crinkled, as it did whenever he grinned sheepishly. The effect vaguely reminded Sasuke of his ever-masked elementary principal.

"Oh no. It's you guys. I guess I'm in a lot of trouble now."

"Sweetie," his mother choked, letting go of Sasuke's hand to kneel next to her oldest son. "How are you? Does anything hurt?"

"Well," he murmured, nodding to his cast-enclosed right arm. "I can't move my hand. And these bandaids are wicked itchy. But I'm ok."

"Tell us what happened," their father ordered, but one could sense the worry in his normally unemotional tone.

"Ugh," he closed his visible eye. "We went to see a movie…what was it…some Pixar animated film, I forget…she was driving, wanted to show off her daddy's new car…it matched her hair, you know, such a pretty color…we stopped by at a bar, I said no I couldn't drink anything because if she got wizzed, I'd be driving…and then she just whipped out this big wad of bills, flung it on the counter and ordered a whole ice-bucket…just like last time…"

"Last time?"

"Yeah, last time it was that strawberry vodka, this time…it was deep red wine, probably a couple of years old…she said I wouldn't be left out, I could have some fun and get home safe…so I…yeah."

"According to the report, you staggered out the door well over the legal limit, intending to sleep it off in the backseat of the car," his father recounted. "True?"

"Yeah…"

"And you were hit by someone in a large blue truck."

"Blue…yeah…I think so…"

"Do you remember who was at the wheel?"

"Yeah."

His unconcealed eye opened again, his head tilting on his pillow to look his little brother right in the eye.

"The devil."

* * *

_"En matin, je me leve a huit heures et demie."_

_"In ma-teen, shuh meh levay ah weet oors eh-demee."_

_"You're not even trying," he sighed, closing the textbook in from of him and shaking his head. "Could you at least pretend to be interested?"_

_She popped her watermelon-flavored gum and pouted._

_"C'mon, Sasuke. You're not even taking French and you're better at it than me! It's not fair."_

_"Well, why didn't you take another class, then?"_

_"Sasu-KE…Latin? Bleah. Spanish? That teacher is insane, I swear to God…He has a freakin' anaconda for a pet! And he wears too much makeup. Gaywad."_

_Sasuke sighed again, rubbing his temples. "And your science teacher is a pervert, your gym teacher an alcoholic, your art teacher on maternity leave, sticking you with her good-for-nothing husband as a sub, your English teacher created Lee as a mini-clone of himself, and your history teacher flings books out the window."_

_She blinked. "Do I really complain about them THAT much?"_

_"Yeah. Now come on, I agreed to miss practice to help you study for this stupid test."_

_"Ok, ok. Let's do something."_

_"Dans la cantine, j'aime bien manger mon dejeuner."_

_"Don la canteen, shame bee-yen mon-jay mon day june-eh."_

_"Sigh…"_

_

* * *

_That night, he dreamed, but not of her. Not of his brother in the hospital. Only of an incident from when he was small, not even double-digits in age yet. Four, he must have been, maybe three. Old enough to understand the things going on around him, young enough to believe in magic and monsters under the bed.

Ever-worshipping of his glorified brother, he would often interrupt his activities with a million innocent questions about what he was doing and why. This time was no exception.

He had toddled on his chubby little legs into the living room, with its mountain of a leather couch in the center of the plushy rug. Back then, it had been brand-new, and still smelled fresh and clean out of the store.

"Ida-shee?" he had called out, his baby lisps preventing him from correctly pronouncing T's and Ch's. "Ida-shee?"

He remembered having wondered why all the lights were off, as it was late at night and lights were supposed to keep the darkness away. But the TV was on, a steady, pale glow coming from it as words he couldn't read scrolled up from the bottom.

"Ida-shee, wheh aw-you?"

Finding a blanket-covered lump wedged into a tiny cushion fort, he smiled with his baby-teeth and clambered up next to the pillowy structure.

"Ida-shee?" he said, poking a chunky finger into a crack between two pillows. He squeaked in surprise when the lump jerked, the top of the blanket slipping off to reveal his older brother, face pale and dark rings circling his eyes.

"Ida-see, whad you doing?" he had asked. "Is bed-dime. Mama gonna yell ad-you cuz you god s-gool do-morrow."

His brother's vision had flickered between his face and the gray screen, now displaying an arsenal of weapons to choose from. Only then did he notice the game controller clutched in pale-knuckled fingers.

"Ida-shee!" he had said in his big-boy tone. "You nod s'posed da play games ad bed-dime! I'mma tell Mama!"

His older brother hushed him, tearing his eyes away from the screen for a moment.

"Sasuke," he whispered. "If you're good and quiet, I'll tell you a secret."

"See-quet?"

"That's right," the older boy grinned. "A big secret."

His eyes had gone down as he whispered his repeating lisp, and stopped on the disk's case cover.

He didn't understand what the picture was at all. A lady wearing lots of eye shadow and a metal suit seemed to be fighting off a big, black thing with purple goop dripping from it. A big, one-word title was stamped across the top, but he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Then his gaze had gone down to the bottom of the cover, there all that tiny writing was. His coal-colored eyes had widened when he saw a single letter in a white box. It looked like the McDonalds logo, and his Mama had told him if it was on a movie or game, it was for big kids and not for him. She had argued with his brother over buying a game with that same letter, saying he wasn't old enough to play games like that.

Somebody was going to get in big, big trouble.

"Ida-shee," he whispered. "You playing a bad game. I'mma tell Mama."

That look his older brother had given him scared him. He had glared at him like he wanted to lock him in the closet again until he cried. Sasuke flinched.

"Don't," was all he said. "I have to beat it first. Then I'll get rid of it. It's not mine. It's a friend's. I'll give it back. I won't play it anymore. I won't."

He seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else as he selected a small, silver thing that to Sasuke looked like a bowling pin stuck to a coat rack.

"You gotta get 'em," his brother mumbled as the screen faded to black. "Get 'em good before they get you. Survive. That's all you gotta do. But they're coming after you like crazy…"

Because the volume was turned all the way down, only muffled noises came from the TV. It all confused him. In the bottom center of the screen was a person, surrounded by gray, lumbering _things_. There was a noise kind of like a jackhammer, and the gray things fell with red stuff oozing out of them.

"Ha!" muttered his brother as a little black thing tossed by the center-person exploded, causing red stuff to splatter everywhere. "That'll show those zombies."

He didn't know what was going on at all, but the sight of all that red stuff scared him. It seemed icky and gross and he didn't want to look at it anymore. But somehow, he couldn't stop looking at it as more of it stained the metallic scenery of the game.

"Ida-shee…" he whispered, unable to close his wide eyes. "Please…s-dop…"

"Not now!" was the grunted reply as his fingers mashed the buttons on the controller. "I'm so far!"

The moment all the gray things were gone, the screen panned upwards as a maniacal laugh echoed from the TV. On top of one of the pixilated buildings stood a pale white man dressed all in black with snow-white hair, that same red stuff dripping from his fanged mouth.

"The level boss," murmured Itachi in awe. "I've never gotten this far before."

"Ida-shee…" whimpered Sasuke, his vision blurred as tears appeared in his eyes. "Please…don' do dis no more…s-dop it…"

More of the red stuff splashed its way across the screen as the center-person fought the black-and-white man. Eventually the jackhammer-noises stopped. Itachi said a bad word, but Sasuke was too transfixed with the screen to care.

The clicking noises of the game buttons seemed to mesh into one steady hum. The little circle at the top, once green and glowing, now turned to orange, and finally flashing red as an exclamation point appeared next to it.

The other, blue bar at the bottom had slowly whittled away since the battle began, and was at about the same level as the flashing circle. At his brother's command, the center-person ducked, rolled, and slashed at the black-and-white man with another shiny metal thing, drawing more of the red stuff out.

"Ida-shee…please s-dop…"

He didn't hear him at all, too submerged in the battle to notice. Sasuke knew now why his brother had been hiding under a blanket while playing this. It was scary, the kind of scary that froze you enough so you couldn't look away and had to deal with it over and over and over again…

"Ida-shee…Ida-shee!"

The "boss" swung a black-fingered talon at the center-person's head. Sasuke's mouth dropped open as the head jerked to the side, held on by only a few threads as red liquid sprayed from the sliced neck. Itachi cursed loudly, nearly breaking the controller as he slammed it against the floor.

"I died!"

The screen went black for a moment, then the two people reappeared, only now from a side view as the black-and-white man grabbed what was left of his opponent's neck and threw him against a wall, splattering it with dripping red.

Everything went silent as the screen gave a first-person view of the black-and-white man's hand bringing a shiny weapon up to the barely-alive person's head. It seemed as though he was pointing it right out of the screen, at everyone watching. He smirked, seeming to look Sasuke straight in the eye as his black-clawed finger pulled the trigger.

He screamed.

He kept on screaming, tears pouring from his eyes as their parents slammed the door open and switched on the lights. He felt his mother's arms wrap around him as his father's voice shouted angrily somewhere in the background. His mother's gentle tone whispered into his ear to calm him, but it didn't help. He felt himself being picked up and carried away from the two shouting voices of his father and brother in the living room.

"Shh, shh, Sasuke baby, honey, don't cry, don't cry, shhhh…"

Even as he hid his puffy red face in the folds of his mother's lilac dressing gown, that man's grinning face, complete with red stuff spewing from the mouth, remained firmly stuck in his mind, the virtual experience of being shot in the head promising to come back and haunt him as a nightmare for the rest of his life…

He woke up in a cold sweat, remembering after a moment that he was sixteen, not four, and in his own familiar bedroom with band posters all over the walls, not in front of a TV with screaming ghouls and blood everywhere…

He breathed deeply, trying to slow his racing heartbeat as he glanced at the clock. Quarter past three in the morning. Great.

Gulping several times, he removed his hand from his sweat-soaked forehead, glancing over the side of his bed and tentatively retrieving the sheets he had kicked off by accident.

That old nightmare hadn't surfaced since he was in elementary school. Why did it appear now?

* * *

_"Ooh, look, there he is!"_

_"Check him out!"_

_"What a cutie!"_

_He rolled his eyes, wondering why on earth those fangirls hadn't moved on yet. They'd been stalking him since middle school, for crying out loud! And didn't over half of them already have boyfriends? What were they ogling over him for? Unfaithful scumbags…_

_"Sasuke!"_

_Ah, there it was. That sweet, loving voice he remembered so well, s-_

_"Sasuke, you ignorant piece of CRAP!"_

_The crowd of fangirls gasped in unison as she stomped up to him, her face almost matching her crimson top in color._

_"What is the MEANING of THIS?!" she yelled, holding up a card with a cartoonish birthday cake on the front, its candles spelling out "Happy Birthday."_

_"It's a card," he said innocently. "For your birthday."_

_"I KNOW FREAKIN' WELL WHAT IT IS!" she yelled, nearly ripping in half as she shoved the now-open card at his face. "What's THIS supposed to be?!_

_"A photo," he said, blinking at the interior._

_"A photo of WHAT?!" she demanded, her voice low and fiery at the same time._

_"Of us."_

_"SASUKE."_

_"Of us at the movie theater. Making out. Getting stared at by the old people behind us."_

_"Sasuke," she growled, "You had Naruto take a picture of that night!"_

_He blinked innocently. "So?"_

"_SO?!" she screeched, completely red in the face. "My hair wasn't washed, I had an ocean of zits, and I had soda spilled on my shirt!"_

_"So?" he asked. "I thought you looked ok."_

_"Hey," whispered one of the girls, clearly audible to the two bickering. "Maybe if she dumps him he'll date one of us."_

_"LOOKED OK?!" she shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking his head down to hers. "Well, you know what?" she hissed. "You owe me a decent birthday present, you slug."_

_The observing girls' mouths hung open as she crashed his lips onto hers. He smirked, knowing they were watching, as his arms found their way around her waist. Good God this girl kissed well._

_"Happy birthday, Sakura. I love you."_

_

* * *

_"Is…is he going to be ok?"

"Yeah…he'll be fine. We were lucky, it was just a fracture. He'll be up and about again in no time."

She sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned against him. "Poor guy…Did they ever find out who ran him over?"

He shook his head, his raven-colored bangs swaying across his forehead. "Nope. They called in all the big blue trucks in the town, which was about four, but none of them looked familiar."

"Well, he _was_ intoxicated at the time…"

"I know. But they're still trying to find out who did it. Only having a description of "The Devil," doesn't really help anything."

"Hm…" she murmured, her eyes downcast. "It doesn't feel safe…y'know?"

He kissed her cheek. "You're safe with me. I'll protect you."

Her smile made him grin in return as the shrill sound of the end-of-lunch bell pierced the quiet murmurs of students sitting at their tables.

"Come on," she said, sliding off of his lap and dusting off her turquoise skirt. "I have a test next period I gotta take."

"Whatever it is, I know you'll ace it," he said, smiling.

"'K, thanks!" She waved to him before disappearing into the crowd exiting the cafeteria. The smells of rotting spaghetti and half-eaten Doritos were soon replaced by that chemical-cleaner scent of the school hallways, and the sweat of those just returning from PE. A familiar scent.

Ten minutes later, he was sitting in "quiet study," texting Naruto behind a physics book. Probably spending half the time deciphering the dobe's incoherent messages, he mused. Naruto wasn't one to check for mistakes, leaving random numbers and letters typed by mistake just the way they were while sending. It's a good thing he didn't turn in papers like that, or he'd still be in seventh grade.

_hey teme r iu frewee aftrer scdhoooll? :D_

_Nah, gotta take stuff 2 the bro._

_Thjsats BS te,me_

_FINE. Gotta study w/Sak._

_Haahja u maerried manm, u XD_

_Just because I'm committed doesn't mean I'm married. I'm waiting until we've both graduated college for that. -.-;_

_M,an trem,e shjes triurned u ointo a ronmanticv bsag fo mushs. :P_

_And Hinata hasn't done the same thing 2 u?_

_Ooiooh harshj tem,e_

He chuckled, glancing at the back of the blonde's head a few seats in front of him.

_I mean it. You're always talking about how you take her out for ramen every weekend, and how nice she smells, and what she was wearing yesterday-_

BRINNGGGGGGGGG!

The sound of the fire alarm caused every student in the room to jump, and immediately begin scooting desks back and whispering amongst themselves.

"Kids, kids, quiet down," ordered the teacher, pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger. "Please leave in an orderly fashion, no running, no shoving."

The halls were filled with students leaving the buildings, though the atmosphere was chatty and upbeat. Nobody ever took fire drills seriously.

_TMEE_

_Dobe, where are u?_

_TWEME STRFU & GET OVRE HERE NOIW_

_What? What is it?_

_IUTS SAK_

_?? What about Sak?_

He noticed everyone around him had gone quiet, an unusual event for a high school crowd.

_Dobe, wtf is going on?_

The students near the front of the school entrance began backing up, some even turning to run silently, shoving their way through the crowd with looks of pure terror etched onto their faces.

_DOBE WTF IS GOING ON?!_

The ones behind them had taken a peek outside, and were also retreating, pale as ghosts. Some kids even appeared from outside, racing into the school with those same terrified faces.

_Sry terme gottsa goi find hiunata & c if shjes ok_

_-Ramenluvr385 has disconnected-_

_DOBE?! GET BACK HERE!_

The fire bell rang again. The noise eerily echoed down the hall of completely silent students, as some began to shuffle down the halls in a nervous flock, herded by teachers. The bell continued to ring. A lockdown drill.

_-GreenBeastofKonoha has connected-_

_Sasuke. Get out before they shut the doors. MTFBWY._

_Lee?! Wtf?!_

_-GreenBeastofKonoha has disconnected-_

Shoving aside the other kids, he made a run towards that very entrance, just managing to slide out before the automatic doors closed and locked with a mechanical _click_. There was no way into the school now.

_Naruto?_ he thought nervously. _What did you say about Sa-_

A noise rung throughout the seemingly-deserted school exterior. He was sure he felt his heart stop beating. He knew that sound, anybody who watched movies or played videogames knew it well.

The sound of a gunshot.

_Sakura!_

Careful not to make too much noise, he sprinted around the school building, checking carefully before rounding any corners. Before turning around the last one, he stopped, pressed flat against the wall.

Somebody whimpered, and he instantly recognized her voice, his inky eyes wide.

_Sakura…?_

"Hey, punk. Get out here, we know you're there."

He flinched, chilly sweat pouring down the back of his neck. Everybody in school knew that voice, belonging to the school's most infamous gang member, only a few steps away from being shipped off to a juvenile delinquency center.

"I said get out here."

Forcing himself to move, he cautiously slid out from behind the rusty-red brick wall. Stopping after a few orders to move closer, he tried to calmly assess the situation. Not an easy thing to do with a six-inch knife pointed at your heart.

Instinctively avoiding those pale, filmy-green eyes, ringed with black from his snorting habit, he gave his captor a quick glance. The usual black baggy clothes, impossible to tell if the redhead was hiding anymore weapons.

His gaze went to the source of the earlier whimper.

She sat there, his lovely Sakura, pressed up against the wall and hugging her knees. Tear tracks were visible trailing down her cheeks, but as their eyes met he saw a sparkle of hope, blurred by tears.

"Sasuke!"

"I'm going to kill you," said the one pointing a handgun at her head. "I suppose there's no point in hiding it."

"You," said Sasuke, "Karin. Let her go. It's me you want."

The deranged girl chuckled, her glasses slightly askew. "Always so noble, Sasuke. It's such an adorable quality."

_I won't let you touch her._

His captor seemed to notice him tensing for a second, as his grip on his knife tightened. What he didn't count on was his weapon hand being grabbed and twisted around behind his back with almost inhuman speed. Wrenching the knife away, Sasuke delivered a quick knee to the stomach before shoving the druggie over a bike rack.

"Impressive," cooed the bespectacled teenager, poking her hostage in the head with the muzzle of her gun as the pink-haired girl shivered.

"I'll tear you apart," he snarled, brandishing the stolen knife. "You won't-!"

_Click._

He knew that noise as well. The sound of another gun being pointed at his head and preparing to fire. Looks like this psycho's consort recovered quickly.

"Good job, Gaara."

"Don't try anything," said that husky, inhalant-laced growl off to his left. Frozen, his gaze traveled without his consent to the owner of the weapon.

He saw the little black spot right at the end where the bullet would come flying out. That tiny dark hole, leading off into oblivion. It seemed to grow larger in his mind, like a black hole big enough to swallow him. Suddenly, the owner's hair was no longer bright red, but long and white. The black circles closed over his eyes completely, turning red and glowing. That maniacal grin grew fangs as blood not his own dripped from the chin.

He was no longer Sasuke Uchiha. He was four-year-old Sasuke, confronted by this demon from that dark place in the back of his mind, where uncontrollable rage and animal instincts ran wild. He was going to be eaten alive.

"Sasuke!"

That gasping whimper sounded so faraway, but it made him aware of a low, rhythmic noise. His heart, beating wildly in his chest. He managed to look past the demon before him, towards the crying girl with rosy hair and her disturbed subjugator. Her eyes pleaded with him to help her, even as her image was clouded over again.

The demon before him laughed, his face a merge of Gaara and that white _thing_. All around him, echoes of Karin's voice chuckled, muttering to herself.

"Just a few drinks and he'll spill anything…like his little brother's mortal fear of guns. If only he'd gone off when he was supposed to…"

Red hair. Red eyes. Evil, maniacal grin.

The Devil herself.

He couldn't move. Her grinning mouth opened wide as she bean to laugh, those yellow, rotting teeth clearly visible. His mind struggled against this unnatural control, without avail.

"Now DIE!" she shrieked, jabbing her prisoner in the forehead with her gun.

"Sasuke!" his princess screamed, clenching her eyes shut as crystal tears poured down her cheeks.

The demon-creature laughed fiendishly, melting away into nothing again.

She pulled the trigger.

* * *

_"Owww!"_

_"Sakura? What's wrong?"_

_As she looked up at him from where she sat on the ground, the open wound on her knee became visible, spurting blood at an alarming rate._

_"Sasuke, it hurts!" she sobbed, clutching at the large cut. "It hurts!"_

_"Oh, man…" he gasped, kneeling down next to her. "That looks bad…we can get to my house from here, my mom'll fix it up."_

_"But-but Sasuke," she groaned. "It really hurts! I can't move it without hurting!"_

_He thought for a moment, before turning around and crouching next to her._

_"Here," he said at her questioning look. "Get on, I'll carry you."_

_"But…but what if I get blood on you?"_

_"It'll come off, just get on!"_

_With some difficulty, she managed to climb into a piggyback position, gripping his shoulders with her slightly bloody hands and wincing as he trotted off towards his address._

_"Sasuke," she whispered into his ear. "You didn't have to do this for me…you could've gone to get your mom…"_

_He smiled back at her. "But I didn't want to leave you all by yourself. I gotta be there for you."_

_She smiled back, closing her pea-green eyes. "You're my hero, Sasuke."_

* * *

He watched his little brother from the open window of the car. Watched him open the squeaky old wrought-iron gate, letting it swing closed with a tinny _clang_ behind him.

He watched him step carefully around the stones, careful not to tread on any flowers or offerings left behind by others like him.

He watched him find his way past the hundreds-of-years-old stones, all the way to the most recent, placed in the very back.

He watched him stop before one, beautifully carved out of white marble, not eroded at all, decorated with wreaths and blooming flowers.

He watched him kneel down in front of it, gently placing the large bouquet of white roses he had brought on the well-tended grass in front of the stone.

As his father hit the accelerator on their car, he watched him embrace the rectangular chunk of rock, kissing it tenderly and tracing the carved image of a cherry blossom with his finger.

Just before disappearing beyond the walls with their somber carved angels welcoming all souls inside, he saw, for the first time in years, tears freely flowing down his brother's young face as he whispered the name of his blossom.

Another turn, and the graveyard was left far behind them.

* * *

_"Hey, Sakura?"_

_"Hm?"_

_"What do you think about…death?"_

_"Well, when you die, if you were good, you become a beautiful angel, and go all the way up to Heaven."_

_"I want to be an angel someday…"_

_"So do I, but not right now. We have to get married first, right?"_

_He smiled._

_"Right."_

_Some promises are broken. Others are shattered._

_His angel was singing somewhere else now._

* * *

-

-

Yes, I know it's sad and it's long (21 pages, yeesh!) and it made you cry buckets on your keyboard, causing it to short-circuit and now you want to sue me so you can buy a new one...

Ok, maybe not really. but come ON, people. think of somethng a bit more imaginative to write than "omg this is soooo sad TToTT thay all died u meanie!"

(sigh...) Ok, i suppose i can deal with Itachi if I screw with his personality a bit...come to think of it, there's a lot of OOC in here, i know. No flaming me for making your favorite character this or that, i can write what i want -.-

If it made you scream, cry, or want to kick puppies, review please.

On a seperate and entirely unrelated note, I finally bought Caramell's Supergott Speedy Mixes album from iTunes :D


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